Yes, he's named after that hunky Wayne guy and no, he's certainly not a real-life hyena. That doesn't mean the production didn't look into getting one, though. In fact, it almost happened. In a special feature on the Birds of Prey digital release, star Margot Robbie, director Cathy Yan, and more discussed all the work that went into bringing Harley's pet to life on the big screen.
Basically, it was a lot of CG on top of a lovely German Shepard. But that only manifested as a back-up plan after the team exhausted their attempts to make a real hyena work. "It was the biggest conundrum we had: how do we shoot these scenes with the hyena," Robbie said. The crew "met up with some animal trainers that actually had a hyena," visual effects supervisor Greg Steele said, which is where they "learned how dangerous it would be to actually have on set."
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